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| Doing my due diligence on saddles...
It seems that higher end saddles only use a wood tree and cheaper saddles ($$ wise) have a fiberglass or fiberglass reinforced wood tree. I have listened to the sales pitch of both on why their tree is better. I have also listened to seminars from Coats, Lynn McKenzie, Caldwell, Nikkel, and on and on. It always leads to the fact, they want to sell saddles.
I want to know from the end users their thoughts. Even now the Double J's that have partial fiberglass can be more expensive than some saddles with the solid wood tree.
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
  
Location: Somewhere around here | I personally would want to just keep wood trees but I have heard that if any water gets on them that they will warp... |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Wood trees can be tossed around where as a fiberglass cant handle the abuse. if a wood tree is bound tightly with rawhide seldom do they warp and that is speaking the "whole" tree some brands only do a half wrap so they can say rawhide covered tree but still defeats the purpose of a full cover. Fiberglass is lighter and easier to saddle tall horses. I had my circle y for 32 years wood tree before my horse rolled on top of it. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Wood trees depending on how they are made can be cheap too.
Crown c, is a different material all together closer to Fibreglass and I would not consider those saddles cheaply made.
A Martha josey wood tree costs a saddle maker less the 250, whereas a custom top quality wood tree starts out at 800 plus. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
| Fiberglass can warp and crack easily. A horse slips or falls with it on and you've got a good chance of a busted tree. As someone else was saying, even wood trees can be a little crappy. You just kinda have to look around and do your research more then anything. I know they're using plastic that is called Ralied and I have heard its decent for a all around saddle, stands up to a lot, more durable then the fiber glass.
But as others have stated already, better made saddles are going to be more expensive, because they normally have better quality in the trees etc. But like I said you really just have to look around and see whats been used and abused and still goes and what can't handle it. You can always find a nice used saddle of a good brand for a nice price and it doesn't have to make your a** sore for breaking it in lol. I personally would take wood over just about anything else however.
Edited by BaylenJaxs 2015-11-28 9:55 PM
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Expert
Posts: 2122
Location: The Great Northwest | There is a lot of calculating in building a tree to build a saddle so everthing needs to be exact and after the saddle is made. The reliable saddle companys and individual saddle makers buy from reliable tree makers or make their own. |
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 Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | Most Saddle Makers use a bull hide (or rawhide) covered tree or a triple fiberglass-covered tree. Keep in mind if you prefer a rawhide-covered tree, the rawhide should be laced on, not stapled which weakens the tree. The fiberglass-covered tree is just a wood tree covered with a fiberglass cloth put on and covered with fiberglass resin. Another type of tree is a Ralide (some people think these are fiberglass but they are not). This is a plastic tree that is made by forcing liquid plastic into a mold. The only advantages of this type of tree are the light weight and cheap price. The most important factor is that the saddle maker buys from a known reputable saddle tree maker. |
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